Here's why Israel is helping Qatar aid Hamas in the Gaza Strip

A
Palestinian worker salvages metal as others clear the rubble of
houses that witnesses said were destroyed by Israeli shelling
during a 50-day war last summer, in the east of Gaza City May 6,
2015Reuters

A year after the war that
devastated the Gaza Strip, Israel is apparently helping Qatar —
which does not have official diplomatic relations with Israel
— partner with the Islamist movement and longstanding enemy
Hamas to rebuild the the territory.

"Life is full of contradictions
and strange things,” Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of research
for Israel's military intelligence,
told NPR when commenting on Israel's recent move to
allow Qatar to channel its reconstruction aid through Hamas,
which is a
US-designated terrorist group.

Israel has always tried to isolate Hamas and has
accused Qatar of financing the Islamist movement. Hamas does not
recognize Israel's right to exist, rejects all agreements between
the Palestinian Authority and Israel, and calls for Israel's
violent destruction in its founding charter.

But now Israel is letting a Qatari official
channel millions of dollars to help the Palestinian faction
rebuild the Gaza Strip, which was heavily damaged during last
summer's war with Israel.

Kuperwasser told NPR that letting Qatar help
Hamas will be beneficial for Israel in the long run. “We believe
that better conditions in Gaza would lessen the incentive of
Hamas and the population to go again to a war, so in a way, it is
helping the deterrence,” he said.

He also mentioned that Qatar was the only
country willing to help — despite a pledge of over $5 billion in
aid for rebuilding the Strip in 2014 after the war.

Mohammad al-Emadi, a Qatari official, has been
traveling between Israel and Gaza to discuss reconstruction
projects in Gaza, NPR
reported. Qatar does not recognize Israel and the countries
have no diplomatic relations.

Nevertheless, al-Emadi met with the Israeli
brigadier general in charge of letting goods and people through
the country's various crossings with Gaza, according to
NPR.

Emadi said that Qatar was there to help
Palestinians and not specifically Hamas — but that there
was no way to achieve that goal in the Strip without Hamas's
help. "You have to support them. You don't like them ... But they
control the country, you know," Emadi said during a visit to
Gaza, according to NPR.

Last summer’s war killed 2100 people in Gaza and
destroyed
about 17,000 homes. Emadi said Qatar's current projects in
Gaza could take another three or four years to complete.

A Palestinian girl stands
near residential buildings that witnesses said were heavily
damaged by Israeli shelling during a 50-day war last summer, in
Beit Lahiya town in the northern Gaza Strip May 25,
2015.Reuters

A Hamas spokesperson said
Israel is letting Qatar help out in the Strip only to “deflect
criticism over the war destruction and the continued restrictions
on materials going into Gaza.”

Israel claims that is specifically what it wants
to avoid in letting Qatar take responsibility for certian
reconstruction projects.

But there are other reasons why Israel is
suddenly more open to cooperation with Qatar. Israel’s deputy
minister for regional cooperation, Ayub Carra, mentioned that
Qatar, along with other Gulf countries, shares Israel’s concerns
about Iran,
NPR reported. Kuperwasser also mentioned that Israel has long
wanted improved relations with the region's Sunni Muslim
countries because of the threat the country faces from Shi'ite
Iran and its various militant proxies.

"So we have a chance, now, to make the
relationship better,” said Carra.